The World of Upali Wijewardene

There are many Wikipedia Pages with text such as “Sri Lankan Entrepreneur”. Among this, there are less than 5 profiles with the title text “Sri Lankan Business Magnate”. Upali Wijewardene owns one of the pages. A person who was a dreamer, not just a dreamer, but an achiever who demonstrated that building empires is a simple task for someone with vision, education, and the necessary leadership skills.

Upali was the brains behind Sri Lanka’s first global corporation: The Upali Group

Upali was not driving for money because money was not something he lacked; he was born into a wealthy family in Kelaniya and attended Royal College in Colombo. He went on to Queen’s University in the United Kingdom to complete his education.

When Upali returned to Sri Lanka after college, he worked for Lever Brothers, and there was nothing he could label impossible in his thinking (now Unilever).

Upali Air

It was a conglomerate with different plants under its name.

• Manufacturing:
• Chocolates
• Soaps
• Radios, Air Conditioners
• Automobile (Upali Motor Company)
• Services
• Aviation (Upali Air)
• Investments
• Investments in Malaysia & Singapore (Cocoa Plantations)
• Trading Firms in New York
• Publishing
• Upali Newspapers
• Comics

Upali had enough foresight to see that Sri Lanka needed to be more than an apparel exporter, and he was able to get five semiconductor companies to invest in the nation, including Motorola. Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, the country’s problems in 1983 caused these corporations to pack up and leave in pursuit of better investment opportunities.

Upali was mentioned in 1980 in an article to be worth $1 billion USD ($16 billion USD in 2020).

His work as the First Director General of the Greater Colombo Economic Commission will be recognized as the forerunner of the BOI and the start of foreign investment in Sri Lanka, which aided in the start of the economic boom that has lasted since.

On the 13th of February 1983, his private airplane vanished after leaving Malaysia en route to Colombo, and he was assumed dead.

The news stunned the country, with many people unwilling to accept that the one man among them who had made it large had departed so quickly.

“He would be willing, he says with remarkable restraint, to become Sri Lanka’s president someday,” a British journalist interviewed Upali for a magazine in 1981.

His businesses are still giants on Sri Lankan soil, with the majority of his firms exporting to the country’s benefit. Upali’s vision is led by a group of exceptionally educated professionals to fulfill the company objectives, employing thousands of Sri Lankans.

Original Post Date — 14/10/2020